You did what with my rib?

People, it's time for to get politicational. Well, actually, it's primarily about a website with an open letter to the Kansas School Board, that by now, everybody and their mom has heard of. It has been featured in the Spiegel, the Washington Post and the NY Times. All in the past week. So it's way overdue I jump on the bandwagon, before it gets even more crowded on there. Maybe they'll get a second car or something though, who knows.
Basically the letter ridicules attempts to teach intelligent design alongside evolution in science classes. What's intelligent design? Nothing more than biblical Creationism screaming that it's scientific theory, in order to be taught in classrooms. Science classrooms. Of course they try to distance themselves from biblical connections, but who are they fooling? So let's not even argue about that part of it (after all, the explicitly stated greater goal is to bring more Christianity into society). Also, let's not even argue about the lack of science actually involved with intelligent design. Let it suffice to say that using claims that can never be proven wrong or right to undermine one's "scientific" findings, has nothing to do with science.
Science is about trying to understand the world around us by means of finding regularities and laws, by looking at what we have as measurable evidence. Gravity exists, and if you like it or not, objects accelerate at 9,81 m/s² when being dropped on planet Earth. The question of why this happens, will eventually become a philosophical one. And evolution really is no different. Of course the evidence is less tangible than things falling down, but that's not really what I intend to talk about. What I find most ludicrous in this whole thing is the way the whole debate is being artificially constructed.
The so-called controversy only exists because ID-"scientists" started ranting and raving about it like some kind of madperson. But actually, there is no debate about the validity of evolution within the scientific community at the moment. People are merely trying to find answers to questions that remain unanswered. Yet exactly because of these unanswered questions, ID people say that the whole thing is bogus, and that, how convenient, ID must be true. Why are these people not getting laughed at? It seems that as long as you scream about something loud enough, you will eventually be heard.
You know what, I don't even feel like writing this anymore. I just wanted to express how ridiculous I find this constructed and artificial debate. I have no problem with Creationism being taught in philosophy classes, that's exactly where they belong. And since the religious wing is so interested in presenting all sides of an argument, let's not forget the many stories from throughout the world, as well as the works of Nietzsche and Kant. What do you think?
Okay, let's get back to the things that made this blog such a roaring success.

Yum, oranges.

We had originally planned to go camping on Saturday and stay for one night. But the weather was so nice on Friday that we decided to take the chance, hurry up and leave already. Unfortunately, right after we had set up the tents and put all of our stuff inside, it started to rain. Great. Who is we? Well, Christina and Christoph of course, and a couple Christina knows from work, Wattanikha and Dimitar. I hope I spelled that right. After the rain had stopped, we set up the grill and had some tasty Bratwurst from a butcher close to our house, but not the one across the road. Yum. We also grilled some paprika and had potato salad. Since the weather continued to be crappy we just sat in our tent and talked.
The next morning it was cloudy, but dry and after breakfast we went swimming in the pool right next to the campground. Since we didn't get a chance on Friday, Christina and I also went running, but it had already started to rain. Since it was not looking like it would clear up, we decided to head home and cook for everybody that night. Made stuffed mushrooms and a rice dish called Reispfanne Mexiko. It has chikkin, shrimp, carrots and paprikas in it.
Okay, so that's the order of events, let's get to the fun stuff that actually happened. When we arrived, the campground office was kinda closed, but the backdoor was open, so no problem. Then there was a guy who gave me a cable reel so we could have some electricity, and apparently he had spent some time in jail. I mean, I don't know 100%, but he did have a tear tattooed under his left eye. And as far as I know they indicate a certain amount of jail time. But he was real nice and all, so who cares? He paid his dues.
They also had a little store there, where I would buy Brötchen in the morning, which you had preorder the day before. And they were still warm when I got them. Great. In general, everyone was really friendly in Hatten and since we were there almost by ourselves it was fun to play on the kid's playground. But back to the little store. There was a girl working there, I assume the daughter of somebody working there, who was about 13 years old I'd say. And as the others told me, and I would witness myself later, she would sit in there with the grown-ups and smoke. Unbelievable. Now I don't wanna go into a big rant about this whole thing, but a small one seems appropriate. Cause I can totally guess the adult's reasoning: "Well, she's gonna do it anyway, so there's no use in trying to forbid it." Of course as smokers they would be utterly hypocritical to tell her "No" while they light up. But that's besides the point. Yes, she would probably do it aynway, but why encourage her? Make her feel bad, let her know you disapprove. At least until she's legally allowed. Then, as smokers, they would have no more room to talk. I find that pretty irresponsible. Cause smoking does exactly what she wants now: Make her more like a grown-up.
Anyway, next item. When we went to brush our teeth that night, two pigeons were sitting on the edge of the roof of the sanitary building. Big deal, right. The cool thing was, that they were sound asleep. We used the flashlight to see them better, and they did not move an inch. Wicked. Christina was slightly freaked out by it, and the next day, after having cooked at our house and while walking down to see the Viertelfest, we saw another one on somebody's balcony. It was sleepy pigeon weekend.
Alright, enough for now. We went to the Viertel again on Sunday since some of the stores there were open and also went to a place called "Lonely Planet Boy" which is a Café and record store. It's a pretty cool place, you get to sit on the window sill and can see what's going on outside. Christina acquired a Hank Williams and a Petula Clark record. And that's it. This weekend we're visiting my parents as my Grandma invited everyone and my brother is visiting from China. It's also his birthday today. Happy Birthday!

I wouldn't read this if I were you.

Alright Kids, here's what's been going on. Last weekend we went to Trier to visit Alice for her birthday. The weather was so so but we had a great time. Then on Tuesday night I went to my parents' so I could help my dad on Wednesday. After all the construction is done, it is now time to give the old part of the house a new coat of paint. Well 3 altogther, one coat foundation and two coats of paint. But first the walls had to be cleaned. And my dad decided we could do that ourselves. They put up the scaffolding on Tuesday so we could get to work right away on Wednesday morning. I got up at 7, had breakfast and we started working. The company that will do the painting left us one high pressure cleaner and we borrowed another one from the guy that rents the factory building. So we both had one to work with.
Of course I have close to zero experience with climbing on scaffoldings, but at the end of the day I was doing alright. First order of business: get the painter's cleaner up on the scaffolding, hook up the hose and electricity and get started. We started with the southern side of the house, which didn't take that long. It has only two stories to clean as it is one of the sides with the roof coming down. Since I was using the cleaner we had up there, and the one my dad was using had a long enough hose to reach without having to carry the whole thing up there, we decided I start working on the front of the house, while he cleans the lower part of the southern side. That way we wouldn't have to carry that thing up and down and up again. Also, that way I would have to climb all the way to the top of the scaffolding. Can you tell I wasn't too comfortable with that at first? But it was no big deal after all. That whole side I cleaned all by myself, which means three stories altogether. Of course I got pretty wet in the course of this whole business, but after a short lunch break at 12, we were done with the cleaning by 3. Then I helped clean up, as we also got the last of the new window sills, and at around 5:15 I was on my way back home. Christina wasn't home yet, but when she did we went running (more about that in a minute) and I ate leftover seafood lasagna for dinner. Then of course I was dead and slept like a baby.
Now to running. We're on the seventh week of a workout program and plan to run for 30 minutes three times a week. So far, sticking to that schedule has worked great. We go Monday, Wednesday and Friday and ride our bikes to the Bürgerpark, which is a huge park with great paths to run on. There are always plenty of people out there running. And so far we even went in crappy weather, but it was no fun.
Tomorrow we're going camping. Hope the rain won't be too bad.

Act IV, Scene III: Putting the pieces together

Not much left to say, we head towards the hotel, check out the church right by it (with exposed calves), get our bags, go to the train station, buy train tickets, buy some water, get on the train, ride it to the airport, check in for our flight, wait, get on the plane, let it take us to the airport, get our luggage, pay the parking fee, get in our car, drive home, take our stuff up, go to sleep and wake up the next day. And that's it. While we're at it, I better find a neighbor for July real quick. Better late than never.
No way, the blog that showed up right away was Bible, etc., believe it or not. That ties in perfectly with the last scene. I knew there was a reason I waited so long. Congratulations!

UPDATE:
It appears that my comment at Bible etc., congratulating them as Neighbor of the Month, was deleted. That's the second time this has happened to me. I tried to see if they even visited from the Site Meter statistics, but it didn't look like it. I sure hope I didn't offend anyone. Do you think I did? Oh well, maybe August will bring friendlier neighbors.

Act IV, Scene II: Kiss of the sunflower or: Sorry for the hatius (sic!)

And I gottta say: He's really got it nice in there. I mean maybe a little cluttered, but who am I to judge. There were paintings and sculptures all over the place and long corridors filled with people. Now before I go on, I wanna make one thing clear, a little disclaimer so to speak: Should anyone feel that in this post, or any other for that matter, I disrespect or ridicule the Pope or the Catholic church or any other religious leaders or institutions, let me assure you that I have deep respect for the various churches, their practices, beliefs and their leaders. Keep that in mind.
Alright, this has been going on for long enough now, so let me finish it real quick, and we can get back to the daily grind of blogging. We walked through the long hallways and the rooms and it was really interesting, and all leading up to the Sistine Chapel. Of course you all heard about it, and how amazing it's supposed to be, but I have seen plenty of famous buildings and art and I always found the reality of actually seeing these things always comes down to one thing: It's just little old me checking stuff out. That's how I feel about the 'big' events in life in general. A lot of it is overhyped. But that's not the issue. Why do you always gottta sidetrack? The Sistine Chapel was, at least to me, a notable exception. I just wasn't prepared for those paintings. Just breathtaking. All I can say is: It's worth saving your money to go and see it. This feeling of deep appreciation when seeing a famous sight doesn't usually happen with everything I look at. Matter of fact, the only other place that I was enjoying a lot more than I thought I would was Mt. Rushmore. At least that's the only place I remember, but my memory is not exactly high profile as most of you probably know already. Heck, if my memory was peanut butter, it would be generic, all-chunk without the lid and the sticker peeling off after letting it sit in the sun for too long. And the knife still sticking in it.
After enjoying Benedetto's hospitality we ate lunch, which was soso but cheap. And then came the big ordeal: St. Peter's Cathedral a.k.a. The World Headquarters of God or simply World Headquarters (if you have to ask which, it ain't The One). On the way to standing in line for the security check, we walk over this little marketplace with all kinds of different vendors. Afterwards, we see some of the Gucci-Dolce&Gabana-Armani handbag street team being chased by the police. Why?
So we pass the security check and approach this little tent. As we would soon find out, this was the fashion police, that makes sure you ain't dressed like no ho going in there. And apparently my calves were too much for the Pope to handle. I mean, I knew my calves are sexy, having caused an impressive number of traffic jams in their lifetime, but I was hoping to get the sin wiped away from them by taking them in there. One thing I know for sure: If the Pope ever wants to come to my place, I'm making him wear hotpants and a tank top. And I'm not joking. Yeah, how you like that, Mr. Ratzinger? So instead, Christina went in by herself, as I couldn't let my calves spoil her enjoyment. As it turned out, had my shorts covered about 10cm more of my calves, I would have been okay. I also saw these three guys put on pants over their shorts, and they looked like one-way clothes. As in you can only wear them once. Throwaway. But I never saw anywhere where you could buy them. so Christina goes inside, takes pictures, comes out, we start walking back and see this little shop hidden in a corner with special price paper pants. AWESOME! I get 'em, go through security again, put them on (they weren't very comfortable and could have been a little bigger), walk right by the fashion police, and check out the HQ myself. It was pretty amazing. We also went up into the dome and that was cool, too.
So a happy ending after all. Thank God.